Filament fastening systems are well known for conveniently attaching product tags (carrying, for example, bar code, price, brand, etc. information) to manufactured articles, e.g., as clothing articles. Such systems are readily commercially available and are widely discussed in the literature; e.g., see Avery Dennison Fastener Division web site. Such systems are characterized by the use of fastener comprising a flexible filament having a cross bar on a first end and a cross element, e.g., bar, paddle, hook, etc on a second end. An installation tool typically having a slotted hollow insertion needle is generally used to insert the filament first end through both the manufactured article and a product tag to attach the tag to the article. Exemplary U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,425 issued Sep. 1, 1998, describes the practice of attaching tags to articles as follows:
The practice of attaching tags to articles of clothing and the like by means of plastic fasteners is well known. One such type of fastener comprises a filament having a cross-bar at one end and a paddle at the other end. Such tags typically comprise a generally-rectangular sheet of tagstock or tagboard provided with a hole, the tag typically being attached to the article of clothing by inserting the cross-bar end of the plastic fastener first through the hole in the tag and then through the article of clothing using a device commonly referred to as a tagger gun. As is known, a tagger gun generally includes a hollow needle through which the fastener is dispensed and a mechanism for pushing the fastener out through the hollow needle. With the cross-bar end of the fastener thus attached to the article, the paddle end of the fastener serves to keep the tag from being pulled off the filament portion of the fastener. Information relating to the name of the manufacturer, name of the retailer, the price of the article, or the like is typically printed on the tag. Another type of fastener often used to attach a tag to an article of clothing comprises a filament having a crossbar at each end. Examples of tagger guns may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666 to A. R. Bone and U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,365 to D. L. Borque, which patents are incorporated herein by reference.
One problem that has arisen with the use of such tags, particularly in connection with the sale of articles of clothing, is that certain unscrupulous consumers have made a practice of purchasing an expensive or unusual article of clothing, removing those tags attached to the garment (the tags often being conspicuously placed on the article), wearing the article of clothing once or twice, and then returning the article of clothing to the retailer for a refund. Because of the administrative difficulties associated with determining which consumers have legitimate reasons for returning their articles of clothing and which consumers are looking for refunds for worn articles of clothing, many retailers are effectively forced to issue refunds to all those who request such. As can readily be appreciated, this can result in considerable losses for the retailer as many of the worn and returned articles of clothing are no longer in new condition and cannot be re-sold for their original prices.
In view of the aforedescribed practice of “unscrupulous consumers”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,425 describes a tag construction that makes it difficult for a consumer to detach and subsequently manually reattach a tag to an article without leaving evidence of tampering.
Although the tag construction described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,425 appears to considerably increase the difficulty of manually reattaching a tag, it does not appear that it would significantly impede a consumer equipped with a suitable installation tool, i.e., tagger gun, which tools can now be readily acquired by consumers.